Julius Westwick
Name: Julius "J" Westwick Species/Form: Empoleon Ability: Defiant Gender: Male Age: 24 Physical description: Possessing a proud bearing and natural armor, Julius, or "J" as he's most-commonly known - is a knightly Empoleon who is the team leader of Team Imperial. Standing at 5' 11" and noted for his distinctive, gold-embroidered blue great-coat (which bears a team insignia), he weighs in at over 300 Lbs. He is much more agile than his heavy armor and body shape would suggest, however. Personality: Julius is honorable, fair, and upstanding. He believes very strongly in fair play and disdains trickery in battle, but his self-righteousness tends to rub others the wrong way. He's on bad terms with the likes of Valerie, Ingrid, and Rose as a result, though his issues with the latter are largely from her issues with his fiancee. He is noted for using outdated speech and being extremely philosophical about things, traits which have earned Dante's respect and Archie's bewilderment. Julius has a fondness for helping those around him reach their potential; this has been displayed several times, both on and off the battlefield. Red poses a rather interesting example of this, as prior to the Valentine's Dance, he panicked over the prospect of asking Monique to go with him, and furthermore realized after he did that he didn't know how to dance. Julius encouraged Red extensively to go for it, and, after he did so, arranged for his teammate and fiancee to show him how to dance formally. History: Julius formed Team Imperial under the watchful eye of his current fiancee, a friend from his childhood whom he absolutely adores. Unlike many other teams in the PCC, is not a dedicated battle team; instead, it is a Rescue Team that is almost on the verge of graduation. Seeing an opportunity to do real good, Julius began his training after being saved, during an earthquake, by a Gallade in his family. Chivalrous to a fault, and inspired by the mon that saved him, he adopted his more knightly personality and began training with gusto. He has been at it for quite a while now, and is confident in both his and his team's abilities. Whilst he is utterly devoted to his lady - a Kingdra that he happens to be engaged to - he has a somewhat rougher relationship with the other members of Team Imperial. Grade level: Senior Major/Minor: Rescue Operations/Criminal Justice Team: Imperial Other members: His Lady (She's an NPC). Role/Purpose on team: Commander/Front Line Combatant Strengths: *Battle: Heavily-armored and remarkably fast for his bulk, Julius is a no-nonsense fighter who excels in close-combat and taking abuse for his teammates. He's quick to run down weaker foes, using his superior mobility, defensive typing, and liberal use of Aqua Ring to throw off attacks that would otherwise injure the more vulnerable members of his team. If he has no teammates or VIPs to defend, he immediately switches to offense mode, wasting no effort to take opponents down quickly; Julius does not waste time with debuffs and instead tends to take foes down with strong attacks, though he will buff himself if time allows during a fight. *Social: Honorable and upstanding, Julius will uphold agreements to a fault and will not go against a previously-made agreement. He is extremely chivalrous and will not brook the likes of bullying or mon who pick on those weaker than themselves. On rescue operations he never leaves teammates behind and will go out of his way to succeed at an assignment, no matter the risks. Julius' supportive nature has caused several to look up to him, on some level or another, as a mentor figure, and he can often be counted upon to give information or advice... Provided you don't mind him being long-winded. *Academia: Diligent to a fault, Julius frequently does well due to his dedication to procedure and courtly demeanor - he excels in manners of law and is an excellent debater. Though his grades are largely unspectacular these aside, he's remarkably consistent. Weaknesses: *Battle: Julius' chivalrous nature is often the source of one of his major weaknesses; he will not fight dirty, allow opponents to flee or compose themselves, and rarely, if ever (intentionally) uses debuff effects (his regular moves sometimes cause these on their own). He will make use of debuff effects created by teammates and allies, however. Julius also suffers from relatively mediocre mobility; though he can swim fine even in his armor, his walking speed is relatively sluggish, and he can be easily outrun. He does have several tricks, however, that can quickly mitigate or even negate this drawback, however. *Social: Julius' insistence on knightly decorum can make him come across as a self-righteous jackass. He tends to be very philosophical as well, which has caused some to dismiss him as being full of himself. Though he often genuinely means well, his attitude frequently rubs people the wrong way. *Academia: Julius tends to be inflexible; it can be hard for him do adapt to new methodologies academically, and as such he can be somewhat slower to pick up and try a new approach when confronted with something that requires him to think "outside the box." Current Classes: #Combat Applications #Criminal Justice #Rescue Techniques III #Government II #Philosophy III Moveset Starter *'Drill Peck' **One of Julius' standard moves; a twisting stab with his steel-hard beak. Primarily used as something of a weapon of last resort due to its short range, Julius often uses it to break out of clashes and to take down more vulnerable enemies as part of a combination attack, especially when used along with Surf. *'Aqua Jet' **Julius unleashes a wave of water from his wingblades, that screams along the ground at high speeds, threatening to slam into any enemy in its way. Its high rate of movement and quick deployment speed means that Julius can use this attack at longer ranges quite effectively. Should he use it at close range, he can potentially combo an opponent, striking with both his wingblades and the resulting water blast. On the rare occasions Julius needs to attack a fleeing foe, this attack usually gets the call. *'Steel Wing' **Straightforward but powerful, Steel Wing is a brutal slash from one of the Empoleon's greatsword-like wings. Easily one of his most common attacks, Julius primarily uses this because it's a "safer" attack option than Cut or Avalanche, both of which leave him far more open. Due to the defensive nature of this slashing attack, Julius can potentially bolster his own defense via this attack. *'Avalanche' **One of Julius' strongest offensive physical moves, Avalanche enables Julius to coat a wingblade in a thick layer of sharpened ice, before bringing it down with massive concussive force. The impact of this attack alone is impressive, and the numbing cold effect it carries even more so. If Julius is damaged during the preparation of this attack, he can channel further energy into it, amplifying the damage it deals and causing both heavier damage and a blast effect on impact. Freshmon (Semester 1) *'Swords Dance' **Julius focuses, honing the sharpness of both his wingblades and the surfaces of his armored body. This results in a direct increase to his offensive potential, and enables him to cause significantly higher damage with his attacks. Multiple uses of this technique stack, further amplifying his damage, but due to the time investment this takes, it's rare to see Julius use this trick more than once per battle. *'Aqua Ring' **Julius summons up a glistening aura of water energy that buffers the Empoleon and gradually heals his injuries - even in the middle of a battle! This effect is capable of keeping the Empoleon in a fight for an almost embarrassingly long time, and was originally learned as a rescue technique; it's only more recently that he began utilizing it for more conventional battles as a way of keeping him in the fight against tougher opponents. Freshmon (Semester 2) *'Baton Pass' **Julius backs off, throwing off an aura of light that transfers any ongoing effects - mostly buffs - to an ally. Julius has been known to use this to bestow Aqua Ring to allies to heal them, or Swords Dances to his teammates to amplify their attack power. Because Julius excels at fighting in such a situation, Baton Pass serves a vital role in the Empoleon's arsenal. *'Surf' **Julius summons forth a flood of water, which rushes towards an opponent with considerable force. Very often, the Empoleon will choose to body-surf the resulting wave (in spite of his considerable mass), using it to lend force to a close-combat attack, such as Drill Peck or Shadow Claw. Due to the wave's indiscriminate nature, however, Julius is loath to use this attack in team battles, lest the resulting water blast wash his teammates away the same way! Sophomore (Semester 1) *'Earthquake' **Learned specifically to aid Team Imperial in its Rescue Team operations, Earthquake allows Julius to slam both wingblades into the ground, causing a localized tremor that rocks nearby enemies. Though the area of effect is relatively small, the damage is quite high and it's omnidirectional, making it useful for disrupting tightly-packed enemies and knocking down single tough foes. Unfortunately, it's useless against flying foes. *'Roar' **Learned in order to aid crowd dispersal, Roar lets Julius emit a piercing war cry that can frighten mon off. Julius primarily uses this to disperse foes that he has no interest in fighting, but has at least twice used it to force away an enemy during a vulnerable moment, in order to force back out a more vulnerable teammate. Roar has no damage-dealing capability, but nonetheless can be a vital contributor to a battle by simple virtue of giving control over an enemy's positioning. Sophomore (Semester 2) *'Cut' **A more aggressive wingblade maneuver that causes Julius to slash vigorously at his opponent, trying to catch them with broad, sweeping strikes. More aggressive and with a stronger focus on slashing damage than Steel Wing, Cut is also used by Julius to carve through intervening terrain or slash through defilade during missions. It is easily combo-attacked, but does less damage than Steel Wing or Shadow Claw. *'Rock Slide' **Similar to Earthquake, Julius leaps, and slams both wingblades into the ground, causing an upheaval of rocks and debris in an explosion that hurls a great deal of this junk skywards. In addition to blasting any caught in the radius into the air, this attack also proves remarkably effective against flying foes, who can be struck by either the updraft of debris and rock or by the shower downwards in the aftermath. Rumor has it that Julius learned this attack in order to impress a younger cousin. Junior (Semester 1) *'Flash Cannon' **One of Julius' rare long-ranged attacks, Flash Cannon causes Julius to unleash a powerful shockwave from his wingblades, capable of screaming out to a decent distance before exploding with a powerful concussive blast. The Empoleon's favored method for engaging targets that insist on fighting at long range, Julius tends to use the resulting stagger, should the wave succeed, to close the distance in close-combat. *'Shadow Claw' **One of the rare attacks learned by Julius specifically to counter a reoccurring opponent, Shadow Claw enables the Empoleon to wrap one of his wingblades in a flickering blackish aura that disrupts opponents on contact, dealing especially good damage to enemy psychics and ghosts. The dark energy increases the range of the slash by several feet, meaning it's one of Julius' few genuinely deceptive attacks; an opponent that fancied itself as being safe for being just outside the Empoleon's reach may yet be sliced by this attack if Julius is in range! Junior (Semester 2) *'Grass Knot' **The origins of this attack are unclear. By all accounts, armored penguins do not normally possess the ability to manipulate plants. Regardless of the truth, Julius has been known to use this attack to slow or stop enemies; by channeling water energy through the ground via his wingblades, Julius can cause enemies to become mired and the ground to become swampy and unstable, causing the foe to take damage as the ground is energized and the very grass on the ground assails the foe to further the tripping attempt. The heavier the foe is, the more damage it takes if it falls. *'Rain Dance' **Channeling water energy into the air, Julius can cause an impressive rainstorm to brew up. The resulting rainstorm bolsters Julius' water attacks, improves the effects of Thunder, and hinders the effects of enemy fire attacks. Rain Dance also provides a boon to several mon with unique abilities that work with it, such as the abilities Swift Swim and Rain Dish. Lacking formal training in weather manipulation, Julius' Rain Dance lasts a shorter time than that of other, more experienced mon that use this sort of attack, such as Ming-Ming. Senior (Semester 1) *'Mist' **Mist enables Julius to wrap himself and his teammates in a powerful protective ward. This mist-shrouding renders those effected completely impervious to the effects of status-reduction moves, such as Growl or Leer. Attacks that can cause status reductions, such as Crunch's defense reduction, cannot cause these effects whilst the ward lasts, though they can still cause damage irregardless. A side-effect of the protective ward is that a could of mist clings to the recipient - in foggy conditions, this can actually render Julius and his teammates very hard to see from afar, but given his penchant for fighting honorably, it is unlikely Julius has ever considered the practical applications of this. *'Signal Beam' **Learned for his rescue team work, Signal Beam enables Julius to gather up energy from the area into his crown-like headcrest, only to release it into the air as a scattered, wide-angled beam. Quite visible from a distance, Signal Beam is primarily used by Julius for exactly what its namesake implies - signaling his teammates or providing a location to nearby search parties, especially at night. Julius tends to employ this attack primarily against flying opponents in its offensive capacity, where it unleashes a shotgun-like hail of small beams. Though it's quite useful at close range, or at covering a big area, the damage from the individual beam shots is relatively low.